"Life on Earth has made several "great leaps" in its evolutionary history: from unicellularity to multicellularity, from sea to land, and from land into the skies. What if the next one lies beyond our planet? That's the question behind Caleb Scharf's latest book, The Great Leap: Why Space Is the Next Frontier in the Evolution of Life, which explores how cosmic evolution and human technology are shaping the next phase of life's story."
"Take oxygenation, for example. When photosynthetic organisms started releasing oxygen into Earth's atmosphere, it radically expanded what life could do. It unlocked new biochemistry, new energy sources, new ways for organisms to exist. Multicellularity is another one: Suddenly, organisms could build internal environments, cooperate, form symbioses. Life could modify itself and its surroundings at a much larger scale."
Life has undergone several major evolutionary leaps — unicellularity to multicellularity, sea to land, and land to air — each opening new possibilities. Major transitions are moments when evolutionary rules change and new modes of existence emerge. Oxygenation expanded biochemistry and energy availability and unlocked new ways for organisms to live. Multicellularity enabled organisms to build internal environments, cooperate, and form symbioses, allowing life to modify itself and surroundings at much larger scales. Such transitions do not merely add species; they open new realms of possibility. Expansion into space creates fundamentally new evolutionary possibilities driven by cosmic conditions and human technological capability.
Read at Big Think
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